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Garden City named retail electric supplier for four annexed tracts; ordinance 3006‑2025 adopted
Summary
The commission adopted Ordinance No. 3006‑2025 and associated findings selecting the Garden City Utility Department as the retail electric supplier for four newly annexed tracts. Staff said Wheatland Electric did not submit a competing proposal and will be compensated under state rules.
The Garden City Commission adopted findings of fact and Ordinance No. 3006‑2025 to make the city utility department the retail electric supplier for four tracts annexed into the city effective Feb. 11, 2025.
City Attorney Jennifer Cunningham reviewed the statutory factors the commission must consider and presented recommended conclusions addressing public convenience and necessity, rates, customer expectations, operational capacity, and avoiding duplication of facilities. The commission’s recommended findings — labeled A through K in the staff memo — concluded, among other items, that: the city utility department is qualified to serve the annexed properties; Wheatland Electric did not submit a proposal; continuity of service inside city limits supports emergency response and customer service; and Wheatland Electric will be compensated for termination of retail service rights pursuant to state law.
The properties at issue include: (1) a tract between K‑156 and East Mary Street (KSU Tract A); (2) the southwest corner of East Mary Street and North Farmland Road (KSU Tract B); (3) a tract between K‑156 and North Jenny Barker Road west of Old Jenny Barker Road (the substation tract); and (4) the northwest corner of the section lines of sections 3, 4, 9 and 10 in Township 24 South Range 32 West of the 6th P.M. (all described in staff materials). Staff said three of the four tracts were being served by Wheatland Electric at the time of annexation, though all four are in Wheatland’s certfied service territory.
Jennifer Cunningham cited the statutory factors under the citation recorded in the transcript as “KSA 66117682” and walked the commission through recommended statutory conclusions. The commission discussed an apparent cover‑sheet ordinance number discrepancy and adopted the ordinance number stated in the recommendation: Ordinance No. 3006‑2025.
A commissioner moved adoption of the ordinance and recommendations; a second was recorded and the measure passed by voice vote. The commission recorded no roll‑call tally in the meeting transcript. The staff memo said compensation to Wheatland Electric will follow state law (including an 8.5% “bare ground” payment referenced in the packet) and that the city’s rates for new customers will be set by the city utility department’s standard rate structure.
The adoption puts electric service for the annexed tracts under Garden City Utility Department control and triggers statutory processes for compensating the incumbent supplier and completing service transitions.
